Improvement in hand-trucks



2 Sheets -Sheet 1.

W. B. ALLEN Hand-Truck.

No. 217,971. Patented July 29,1879.

' z INfiENTOR ATTORNEY N.PETERS. FHOTO-LITHO WASHINGT N 0 c 2Sheets-Sheet 2. W. .B. ALLEN.

Hand-Truck.

Nd. 2l7,97l. Patented July 29,1879

WITNESSES IN'VENTOR N.PETERS. PHOTOMTROGRAPMER, WASHINGTON, 0 C

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIoE.

.WILLIAM B. ALLEN, OF ORLEANS, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN HAND-TRUCKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 217,971, dated July 29,1879; application filed November 22, 1878.

To all whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, WILLIAM B. ALLEN, of Orleans, in the county ofOntario and State of New York, have invented certain new and use- ,fulImprovements in' Trucks and I do hereby declare the'following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use it,reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, which form part ofthis specification.

My invention relates more especially to trucks adapted to be used in thesale and transportation of stoves, the object being to provide meanswhereby stoves may be readily brought into position suitable for viewingthem, and then be replaced in their former position or otherwise bedisposed of.

Heretofore a difficulty has been experienced by dealers in stoves, andespecially retail deale1j' 's,'in moving their stoves so as to bringthem in good light and positionfor exhibition and examination. Suitableroom is required in which to view a stove on all sides, open its doors,examine the oven,and in other manner view its parts; and such room itisimpracticable to obtain in a store filled as is usual with stoves, whilethe latter are arranged closely together and in such small compass as isin almost all instances the case. I The purpose of this invention is toremedy this difficulty by having the stoves which are 011 sale placedeach upon a truck, such as will be hereinafter described and claimed,said trucks being adapted to support the bed of a stove, while the legsare connected in place on the stove and depend over the truck-sideswithout touching the floor or ground. Then,by drawing any stove out fromamong the other stoves into a clear space, it can be seen to its bestadvantage, the truck being adapted to be moved around in a space whosegreatest extent need not exceed the greatest dimension of the stove.

The object of the invention is also to provide a truck upon which astove can be easily and readily loaded or unloaded, so as to save muchof the labor and strength now required for this purpose.

Further advantages result from the invention, as will appear in the bodyof specification.

This invention consists in certain details in construction andarrangements of parts in a truck, as will be hereinafter described, andpointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a view in rear perspective of thetruck. Fig. 2 is a view in front perspective thereof. Fig. 3 representsthe truck in upright position and with a portion of the rear part of thebody of the truck broken away.

The bed A of the truck, though preferably triangular in form, may bemade otherwise and with its different parts built as desired. The frontportion of the body of the bed is supported upon two truck-wheels, B,which are axled thereto, so as to cause the forward end of the truck tolaterally project over said wheels and their respective axles.

The result of such overhanging of the truckbed is to permit a stove torest with its bedplate or bottom upon the bed of the truck, While thelegs of the stove are connected with the latter in place and depend overthe sides of the truck, so that while said stove-legs are raised fromthe ground they are also free from lateral contact with the wheels orthe axles of the same.

The opposite and rear end of the truk-bed is supported upon acaster-wheel, O, which allows the truck to be turned within small space,so as to be readily rolled into desired position. The advantage of thiscaster-wheel is apparent in the ability to turn the truck around in acircle or space whose diameter need not exceed the length of the truck,or the greatest horizontal measurement of the stove which is placedthereon.

Double-end or reversible pins D are fitted into sockets formed in thetop of the truck, and serve to provide points of support for a stove, sothat the latter may be level on its top. The good result thus obtainedis observed when it is remembered that many styles of stoves, especiallycook-stoves, do not have level or flat bottoms by reason of flues formedtherein. A further use of thesepins is to provide means whereby certainparts of a stove may be exhibited in prominent view, as it frequentlyhappens that different elevations are required in order to show toadvantage or for other reasons. Each pin is of two working lengths, soas to be reversible, according as a high or low elevation is desired.

The front portion of the truck is formed with a longitudinal extension,E, with which the removable nose-piece F is connected. The projection ofthis extension is such as to cause the truck to have vertical bearingupon the flat side of the nose-piece as secured thereto when the truckis in upright position, preparatory to being loaded or unloaded in thisway. When the truck is thus in upright position upon a level floor orother place, the truck rests equally upon the two forward wheels and thenose-piece; but if the truck should be tilted forwardly of thisperpendicular upright position it would in such case rest solely uponthe nose. While the points of support might vary for the forward wheelscorrespondingly with the irregularities of the surface upon which theyrest, it is apparent that by means of the rear wheel the truck will befirm and secure in bearing, however the surface may vary upon which thesame rests. This removable nose-piece may be of any suitable length orwidth, the form shown in the drawings being simply an illustration ofone style of the same. Instead thereof it might be made as wide as thewidest part of the truck. So, too, its stem may be changed, as desired,in size. The nose-piece may be locked in place by a pin, f, or othersuitable device,

To the rear extremit of the truck-bed is connected the removableever-handle G, a portion of which fits within a socket, 9, formedlongitudinally in the end of the truck, and which may b locked in placeby pin 9 or other suitable dev ce. The upper surface of this handle isflush with that of the truck-bed, so that it may serve as a longitudinalrear extension to the truck-bed if such use is desired of it. Thisnose-piece and handle may be used or not, as may be suitable, when thetruck is employed in moving stoves or other articles.

By removing the pins D, and having said nose-piece and handle intheirrespective places, the truck may be converted into an ordinaryhand-truck. The rear portion of the body will be raised from the groundas the operator lifts it by means of the handle, and in this way he canroll the truck along on the two forward wheels.

The length of the lever may be longer or shorter, as most suitable foreach case.

A further advantage of making the lever and nose-piece removable is,that one set of the same would answer for use with a large number oftrucks; hence, when a hand-truck is desired, it would only be necessaryto connect the lever and nose-piece with any one of the emptystove-trucks, and thus adapt the latter for use as an ordinarytwo-wheeled truck. A common-sized cook-stove turned up on one side couldbe readily loaded by a single man upon one of these trucks when thelatter is in upright position, as shown in Fig. 3; then by shifting thehandle and nose-piece to another truck this latter could also be readilyloaded in same manner.

It will be observed that, while I have hit erto spoken of the caster asbeing a casterwheel, it is apparent that the same may be termed acaster-leg in con tradistinction to the usual fixed legs now used asvertical supports for the rear portion of the body of an ordinaryhand-truck when the latter is in a horizontal position.

The advantage of such a single caster-leg is well understood when it isremembered that, as at present constructed, hand-trucks are restrictedin the size of the box or other package with which they may be used.Thus the size of the truck-bed is in many instances too small for thevarying use to which it might otherwise well be subjected. Boxes orother parcels whose width is greater than the length of the truck cannottherefore be-loaded upon the latter but by my construction the truck maybe rolled either as an ordinary hand-truck upon the two forward wheels,or as a flat or horizontal truck, whose rear as well as forward portionof the body is provided with vertical bearin g upon the floor or ground.

By this means boxes or articles whose width may even be twice thelength-of the truck may be readily loaded onthelatter and transportedfrom place to'place.

A further advantage of" the same construction consists in the fact'thatwhatever articles may be carried upon the truck when the latter is inhorizontal position, the same may be so carried at a much lessexpenditure of strength upon the part of the operator than if the truckwere rolled simply upon the two forward wheels. The adaptability of mytruck to be thus used as a horizontal truck is due to the employment ofsaid caster in substitution for the two legs commonly fixed respectivelyto both sides of the 'rearportion of the body of the truck.

This caster leg-may be connected with the truck-bed at a point forwardof that to which it is shown as connected in the drawings, and, providedonly that it is in longitudinal central line with the truck-bed at apoint to the rear of its transverse central line, said caster-leg may beconnected, as desired, to the truck.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a truck, the combination, with the truck-bed supported by acaster-wheel and two truck-wheels, of a removable nose-piece connectedwith the forward portion of the truckbed and a removable lever-handleconnected with the rear portion of the same, substantially as set forth.

2. A truck-bed having a socket formed in the outer side of the forwardportion of the truck, in combination with a vertically-removablenose-piece, the shank of which is adapted to be secured within saidsocket, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, with a triangular truckbed, of a removable handleconnected with the apex or rear end of the truck, substantially as setforth.

4. The combination, with the rear portion of a truck bed having a socketformed therein, of a lever-handle adapted to be removably secured withinsaid socket, said handle being constructed so that its upper surfacewill be flush with that of the truck-bed, and thereby constitute a rearextension of the same, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination, with a truck-bed sup- WILLIAM B. ALLEN.

Witnesses L. R. LOMLBARD, EDWIN WARNER.

